As the world's most famous prisoner and, now, his country's leader, he exemplifies a moral integrity that shines far beyond South Africa

In a recent television broadcast BBC commentator Brian Walden argued that Nelson Mandela, "perhaps the most generally admired figure of our age, falls short of the giants of the past." Mandela himself argues that "I was not a messiah, but an ordinary man who had become a leader because of extraordinary circumstances." Clearly, a changing world demands redefinition of old concepts.

In the revolution led by Mandela to transform a model of racial division and oppression into an open democracy, he demonstrated that he didn't flinch from taking up arms, but his real qualities came to the fore after his time...